Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1203 Don’t you want to leave?

Although she was a stranger who fell from a tree, her tone when chatting with Medien was as familiar as that of a good friend who had known each other for many years; after staying in Tianxin Church as a maid, she quickly adapted to her new life and was even a little excited; in this strange world, she never cared about the era and background she was in, and only wanted to play games... Living like this as she pleases is the way of life for a genius player.

"Are you praising me or insulting me?"

Alice wrinkled her nose and looked at the young man suspiciously.

Linger thought about it and couldn't help but admit that this was a compliment, but it was definitely not a flaw. It should be said that this was a unique evaluation that belonged only to Alice, so he gave an ambiguous answer: "Both."

"Hehe, so this is how you've always viewed me. If that's the case, then I'll do as I please!"

Alice laughed twice and looked at Linger with an evil look, as if she was considering where to start. The young man was intimidated by her look and stepped back a little subconsciously, asking warily, "What do you want to do?"

"What do I want to do?" Alice put her hands on her hips and said confidently, "Of course I want to play games! Didn't you say that Mitch and Kadora have been looking forward to my game for a long time? The game console has finally been repaired, of course I want to let them see the masterpiece of a genius player! Well, but I haven't played games for a long time, so my feel is inevitably a little rusty, so I lost to Metien last time. I want to take this opportunity to get my feel back, and I can't lose face as a genius player in front of those little guys! Of course, Lingge, you have to stay and play games with me! You are not allowed to leave tonight!"

Like a tyrant, she arbitrarily decided the young man's fate tonight.

That sounds impressive, but are you sure you lost to Metien because of your mistake last time? And -

"If we're just playing a game," Ling Ge was speechless about the thought of retreating for a moment, "Don't put on that weird attitude. It's easy to be misunderstood."

"What misunderstanding? Oh~~~ I understand."

Alice pretended to be confused, then suddenly realized and laughed, "Well, I am a beautiful girl after all, Lingge, it is inevitable that you would have such a misunderstanding. Actually, although you used to be very rigid and stubborn, and you were expressionless, you have become more considerate recently, and you look pretty when you smile. If you can be a little, a little, a little more proactive, I would actually consider it..."

"Shut up."

Lingge replied unhappily, not taking Alice's joke seriously. Who made this guy so carefree in joking, not caring about his image as a girl at all. This carefree tone and casual way of speaking would inevitably make people a little irritated in the past, but now, it makes people feel irritated and nostalgic.

Just like what the young people said, living freely as he pleases is the talented player they are familiar with.

"I don't know how long it will take until dawn." The young man smiled faintly. He raised the game controller in his hand and gestured to Alice, "But before that, I'm always available to accompany you."

"Hmph, you are so arrogant. I will let you know what a wrong choice it is to challenge a genius player like me!"

Alice curled her lips, not taking his confidence seriously. "Even if you've beaten me before, so what? It was only in a game made by someone else. But in a game made by a genius player, I am invincible. No one knows their mechanisms and values ​​better than me, the designer!"
The genius player, determined to avenge his previous humiliation, sat directly next to Lingge, sharing the virtual screen of the game console. However, perhaps because of the strong contrast between the night outside the window and the light inside the room, or perhaps simply because the game console was too far away, Alice, a heavy player who liked to put her eyes close to the screen to play games, was not used to it. In order to see more clearly, she sat down and rubbed against Lingge's side, and the two of them were almost shoulder to shoulder, sticking together.

Lingge didn't notice this small detail. As we have emphasized before, Alice is a free-spirited person. She can show a familiar attitude to strangers she meets for the first time, and she has no sense of boundaries and distance towards her companions. Lingge has heard Olvera complain more than once that she occupied her bed to play games, or heard Yieta mention that she used her wings as a scarf. So at this moment, her action of rubbing against him was also understood by the young man as a habitual action, just like what she did to Olvera or Yieta.

Only Alice herself knew that this had nothing to do with habit, she was just looking for a sense of security.

That's right. For some reason, being around this young man made her feel very safe. It was the kind of feeling of relaxation that made her feel like she was soaking in hot water and taking a nap. She recalled her life, tracing back the countless times she had spent in ignorance, and finally found that she had experienced similar feelings of security many times. Sometimes it was vague, such as when she opened her eyes and was given life by the great and kind mother years ago. She was blessed and loved by her mother, and lived freely in a vast and incredible city without worries or sorrows. But she had just retrieved these memories and could not adapt to them yet. Therefore, this sense of security was like a reed for a drifter. It could sometimes support your weight, but it would capsize at any time and could not be relied on.

Sometimes, it is clear, engraved in the instinctive thinking of a genius player, just like you are playing a very difficult game, facing cunning and difficult enemies, intricate maps and traps. If you don't stay alert at all times, you don't know when you will be bitten to death by a monster rushing out of the corner, or being killed by a stone that suddenly falls from the ceiling. She walked through narrow roads that were almost impossible to turn back, and finally saw a bright flame - that was the rest area and the save point. So you let out a long sigh of relief, knowing that you can finally rest assured. Yes, the sense of security that Lingge brought to Alice was like that.

If I stay by his side, the emptiness left after being washed away by tears will slowly be filled. What will I become by then? Maybe it will be the same as before, or maybe it will be better, but no matter what, at least I will not let everyone down. Alice suddenly had a premonition that by then, her game console - no, her kingship, might also return.

She couldn't explain the reason for this premonition, but she felt its presence in the dark. "Alice," the young man turned around and asked, "Why are you daydreaming? Aren't you going to play games?"

It is said that people with keen intuition often catch similar premonitions, which they call the revelation of fate. Many famous prophetic poems have been passed down in history. On Yunjingkong Island, Lingge and Saint Xia Liya belong to this category, so they both have an innate leadership that can convince everyone and make them follow. Now, she also has a similar premonition. Does it mean that she is catching up with them, or gradually becoming the same as them?

The genius player stared at the young man's face in a daze. After the latter hummed in confusion, a happy, bright, and sincere smile slowly blossomed on his face: "Yeah!"

She nodded vigorously.

What follows is time for games, and also time for the two to fight side by side on adventures. Every game pieced together constitutes this long journey.

From the turn-based combat in "First Fantasy: Four Warriors", the adventurer team who accidentally entered the abandoned city of the apocalypse had a clear division of labor and tacit cooperation, successfully defeated the vicious vampire BOSS and took back the light of this sad city; to the action level-breaking in "Dark Castle: Waltz of Dawn and Night", skillfully used different types of weapons, defeated the enemies blocking the way one by one through gorgeous combos and cool skills, and even the BOSS on each floor had to bow down to the heroes' unique skills, and finally saved the princess of the ancient kingdom from the shadow that brought darkness; from the stealth assassination in "Blood Creed", secretly sneaked into the dangerous swamp, and used master-level assassination skills to make the enemy fall silently, and buried under every piece of cold mud... The game is about the accumulation of countless lonely ashes, until the ancient castle collapsed and the last assassin jumped off the bounty, like a bird leaping into the light; then in the card duel in "Duelers of Chaos World", the duelists are cautious in every step, showing their skills and strategies, not to prove who wins or loses, but to fully demonstrate their ideals and beliefs to their opponents, and to see each other's sincerity in the passionate collision; even the "Sky Orbit: Behemoth" that Alice has always regarded as a rubbish in the past, now she can play it with relish. Whenever the girl controls the huge whale, soaring freely in the sky ten thousand meters high, passing through every wisp of wind and every cloud, does she feel that the wind of the ancient Avignon village is blowing from under the wings of an angel and brushing against her cheek?
She felt everything she created with her own hands, and suddenly understood why Themis told her before she disappeared not to treat everything as a game. But it was really strange. When she used the power of the game console to turn everything into reality and experienced those dangerous battles in person, she never understood this. Why now, just like an ordinary player, sitting in the room, using the most ordinary game equipment, reliving the past battles through a virtual screen, she has a new understanding?

Human thoughts, human wishes, and human will are all created by humans themselves, but sometimes even humans themselves find it difficult to understand them.

But no matter what, Alice looked at the game screen and thought to herself: What an unforgettable journey.

As this thought came to her mind, the huge emptiness in her heart was suddenly filled, and she felt an unprecedented sleepiness. Her eyelids slowly drooped, and her fingers gradually slowed down until they stopped on the handle, motionless. From Ling's perspective, he only saw that the character on the screen suddenly stopped moving. It was about to be hit by the enemy's attack, but it just stood there stupidly, without any reaction. Ling, who no longer disdained the game like in the past and had become a skilled player, was a little uncomfortable with this rookie-level mistake, and couldn't help but remind her: "Alice?"

Then, a long breathing sound came from beside me.

At the same time, my shoulders suddenly felt heavy.

The young man was startled for a moment, and turned his head slightly, his nose rubbing against a tuft of Alice's hair, which was still shaking stubbornly even in her sleep, as if protesting against him. The golden-haired maid still held the handle in her hand, but her entire weight was on Lingge, one leg stretched out, the other bent and resting on her knee, she fell into a deep sleep in a very casual, relaxed and indecent posture.

Seeing how soundly she was sleeping, Lingge suspected that if he had discovered her a little later, she might have wiped her saliva on her clothes.

I'm sure the talented player will have a good dream tonight.

After all, there is a dead tsundere waiting to apologize to her in her dream.

No, no, why did I start using such unfriendly words as "dead tsundere"? Could it be that as Alice gradually recovered her nature, her magical infectious ability also returned? I was the first target to be infected, and the others on Cloud Whale Sky Island were probably not going to escape either. That was too scary.

Thinking of such a terrible future, Ling Ge couldn't help but sigh, and then tried to push Alice away from him. It's not that he disliked the way this guy slept, but it was mainly because letting her sleep on the floor was not good for her health. The young man wanted to carry her back to bed. Regarding this kind of thing, he had gained a lot of experience from Olvera and Yieta, so he didn't have to worry about waking this guy up.

However, Alice in her sleep showed an unusually stubborn attitude. She was not conscious at all, but she kept clinging to him, whining and refusing to leave no matter how much he pushed her. Finally, she hugged the young man's neck like a sloth clinging to a branch, mumbling incoherently: "Well, Lingge... don't leave, stay... play games with me... huh..."

Started snoring.

Is this the level of the talented player who is known as the god of late-night fighting?
Lingge thought about it and did not continue trying to pull the octopus off his body. Instead, he took the handle of the game console from the girl's hand and took over the control of the character. He continued to play the game while Alice was hanging on him.

Well, Alice asked me to play games with her.

This should count, right?
Give me some meow